World Footy News

We've seen the inaugural European Championships, and each year North America has the US versus Canada. Now a senior Oceania Cup will be played in Auckland from November 12th to November 17th. Hosts the New Zealand Hawks will play against the inexperienced Tonga, traditional footy rivals Papua New Guinea and an exciting Oceania Allstars team.

New Zealand's initial selections for the Oceania Cup took place in September 2009 shortly after the Senior National Provincial Championships held in Auckland - part of long and steady build up to the tournament.

Training commenced in February 2010 where players were provided with a fitness programme with initial testing and monitoring to take place in April, May and June 2010.

Players from Waikato, Auckland, Wellington and Canterbury then congregated at training camps in July and August as a lead in to the local leagues’ seasons commencing after that.

Both Under 20 and Under 16 New Zealand Hawks representatives trained in conjunction with the Senior sessions to ensure transferable knowledge, concentration of resources and larger training contingents in regional areas, all of benefit in a High Performance Programme.

New Zealand Senior squad members and New Zealand Under 20 participants all arrived at the Christchurch NPC early to ensure final preparations for the VAFA challenge and a last minute organization of Senior game plans were complete.

The inaugural Senior Oceania Cup is a great reward for the New Zealand Hawks and a pathway that provides local players a further reason to commit to the sport of Australian football.

The New Zealand Hawks team for the 2010 Oceania Cup is dominated by the Auckland clubs with 15 players, whilst recently crowned NPC champions Canterbury provides 6 players, Waikato 2 players and last year’s NPC champions Wellington providing a solitary representative. (Ed. The Auckland dominance can in part be understood given they fielded a New Zealander-only NPC side). The team is as follows;

Emergencies: Vandyn Hartman (Manurewa Raiders), Adam Rice (North Shore Tigers), Carl Williams (University Blues)